Stories of Hong Kong in Britain: from a 1924 colonial exhibition to a 21st century retrospective
A century ago, two British Empire Exhibitions received 17 million and 9 million visitors respectively in Wembley, London in an apparent effort to showcase and expand British colonial activity.
A ‘Hong Kong Pavilion’ housed the Hong Kong section of the 1924 and 1925 exhibitions. What kinds of narratives did it construct about Hong Kong? How have these narratives influenced the stories told in Britain today about Hong Kong and British-Hong Kong relations?
Dr Gary Wong, Lecturer in the School of Sociology and Social Policy, researched and curated an international exhibition and multi-media project that retrospectively walks audiences through the Hong Kong Section of the 1924 and 1925 British Empire Exhibitions. The comprehensive and beautifully presented project website includes a visual and animated journey through a 3D printed replica of the pavilion, and a digital collection of postcards and other archival materials from the exhibition. An in-person exhibition was hosted in Hong Kong, at A Nice Place To, Sai Ying Pun, in 2021 and 2022, and in London at Brent Civic Hall, Wembley, in 2020-21.
The exhibition included a 3D-modelled and 3D-printed replica of the Hong Kong Pavilion, viewable online through images and animation.
Dr Wong’s research in this area is the featured subject of a recent episode of the YouTube documentary series ‘Hong Kong Documented’. Co-produced by the Hong Kong History Centre and the Society for Hong Kong Studies, the series highlights the works of experts and scholars of Hong Kong history studies. In episode 8 of the series, Professor Ray Kin-man Yep, Research Director of the University of Bristol’s Hong Kong History Centre, visits Leeds for a conversation with Dr Wong about his research.
Sitting down with Professor Yep in the Matthew Wilkinson PGR Suite on Level 12 of the Social Sciences Building, Dr Wong shares how an accidental encounter with a Hong Kong Pavilion postcard sparked a curiosity that resulted in the research project and its subsequent international exhibition and multi-media project.
Their conversation spans the intentions and outcomes of the Hong Kong section for the colonial government and for the British and Chinese merchants who participated in the section, the section’s restaurant menu (which interestingly didn’t include Hong Kong cuisine), and the significance of the event in the collective memory of the British public.
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The project website hints at upcoming future replicas of pavilions from other South East Asian sections of the 1924-25 imperial exhibitions. You can keep up with the project at @ExhibitingHK on Instagram and @ExhibitingHongKong on Facebook.
Dr Wong joined the University of Leeds in 2022 and specialises in research and teaching on Hong Kong’s cultural history, sociology of space, social mobility in post-colonial Hong Kong, and radio drama. He has been a lecturer at the University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, Kingston University London and HKU Space Global College Suzhou. His pre-academia experience includes public affairs consultancy and work at Commercial Radio Hong Kong. He has been involved in editing and producing more than 50 publications on Hong Kong culture and current affairs. Learn more on Dr Wong’s university profile and on his curator profile on the project website.
